Situation comedy · CBS
My Friend Irma
April 11, 1947 – August 24, 1954 · 319 broadcasts
One of network radio's best-loved situation comedies, My Friend Irma ran on CBS from April 1947 to August 1954. Marie Wilson starred as Irma Peterson, a good-hearted, gloriously dim stenographer from Minnesota sharing a New York apartment with her sensible roommate Jane Stacy (Cathy Lewis), who opened each week by narrating the latest tangle her innocent friend had wandered into. Around them revolved Irma's Brooklyn-hustler boyfriend Al (John Brown), the eccentric violinist Professor Kropotkin (Hans Conried), landlady Mrs. O'Reilly, crusty boss Mr. Clyde, and Jane's unattainable millionaire boss, Richard Rhinelander III. Created by writer-director Cy Howard as a low-cost answer to My Sister Eileen, the show was an immediate hit -- a fixture of the CBS Monday-night comedy block alongside Lux Radio Theatre, and a Top Ten program for four straight seasons. Its success spilled into a franchise: two Paramount films (the first, in 1949, introduced Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to moviegoers), a CBS television series, a comic strip, and a comic book. Behind the laughter ran a long plagiarism suit that CBS eventually settled -- but on the air, Irma simply kept turning disaster into charm, one bewildered week at a time.
Collection status:
101 of 319 held (32% complete)
◆ ◆ ◆
Episode Spine
Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.
- 1946 (1 episodes)
- 1947 (38 episodes)
- 1948 (53 episodes)
- 1949 (44 episodes)
- 1950 (43 episodes)
- 1951 (38 episodes)
- 1952 (37 episodes)
- 1953 (31 episodes)
- 1954 (34 episodes)
1946
1947
Irma hands over the girls' rent money so Al can bankroll a washed-up boxer he is managing, and Jane braces for the fallout.
April 25, 1947
(untitled)
Nothing anyone says can shake Irma's fixed conviction that today is Jane's birthday.
May 9, 1947
(untitled)
Both girls find themselves jobless on the same day, and Al bankrolls a poker-playing pal to raise a little cash for them.
May 23, 1947
(untitled)
May 30, 1947
(untitled)
June 6, 1947
(untitled)
Irma proudly pays eighty dollars for a fur coat a street peddler swears is worth five thousand -- just as the police start cracking down on the racket.
June 20, 1947
(untitled)
June 30, 1947
(untitled)
Jane fears the wealthy Rhinelanders will look down on a working girl, so Irma and Al set out to 'help' by drumming up publicity for her.
July 28, 1947
(untitled)
August 4, 1947
(untitled)
August 11, 1947
(untitled)
August 18, 1947
(untitled)
August 25, 1947
(untitled)
September 1, 1947
(untitled)
September 8, 1947
(untitled)
September 15, 1947
(untitled)
September 22, 1947
(untitled)
September 29, 1947
(untitled)
October 6, 1947
(untitled)
October 13, 1947
(untitled)
October 20, 1947
(untitled)
October 27, 1947
(untitled)
November 3, 1947
(untitled)
November 10, 1947
(untitled)
November 17, 1947
(untitled)
November 24, 1947
(untitled)
Irma turns up a lost purse and hopes for a reward, but a mix-up over a hundred-dollar envelope meant for Jane sends Al chasing the wrong woman.
Sure the way to a man's heart runs through his stomach, Irma studies Al's X-rays to see how her cooking is doing.
Irma plans a secret Christmas Eve party, but one guest after another begs off until the real surprise is on her -- the perennial holiday installment.
1948
Bored with the steno pool, Irma jumps at a fifty-dollar-a-week stage job that mostly involves being sawed in half by a magician.
Irma enters a radio 'I Want To Be A Bride' contest and leans on Jane to write her winning twenty-five words.
Flat broke after blowing her last hundred dollars on a bogus self-improvement course, Irma leaves Jane to win the money back.
Fed up with Al, Irma joins a lonely-hearts club -- never guessing that the heartsick Al has signed up for the very same one.
With Valentine's Day looming, Irma is certain Al is about to propose, while Jane frets more for her friend's heart than her head.
Professor Kropotkin drops out of sight for a week, alarming the household, then reappears overjoyed to have finished his concerto.
Irma weighs marrying Al though she knows nothing of his family, prompting Jane's crack that maybe he came out of an egg.
Trusted with a hundred and thirty-five dollars to collect her boss's new tuxedo, Irma lets Al talk her into hunting for a bargain instead.
Reconciled with their fellows, the girls stage a dinner for four and quietly scheme to pair Professor Kropotkin with Mrs. O'Reilly.
A running feud over the shared telephone party line ends up making a small fortune for a client of Richard's.
Jane sets Irma to mailing circulars for an honest candidate at the very moment Al ropes her into shilling for the crooked one.
Overhearing Jane's confidential trip to Washington, Irma invites herself along and cheerfully spills the secret to everyone, the press included.
A dead eccentric farmer has willed fifty thousand dollars to an unknown niece named Irma, and Jane begins to wonder if her roommate is the heiress.
April 12, 1948
Irma Becomes a Photographer
Impatient with Richard, Jane accepts a date with a smooth 'government finance' man whom Al recognizes at once from the unemployment window.
Chosen to model for a magazine feature on working girls, Jane can only watch her eager friend Irma threaten to wreck the whole shoot.
The doctor diagnoses Irma with lovesickness, and Al arrives with the cure -- an engagement ring he actually slips onto her finger.
Richard sails for England aboard the Queen Mary, and the entire gang crashes his shipboard farewell party.
When Jane is admitted to a professional women's club, Irma decides real friendship means getting her in too.
Jane's well-off Aunt Harriet plans a visit, and Jane braces for the angle Al is bound to try on her.
May 31, 1948
(untitled)
Sent to fetch a friend's wedding ring, Irma leaves cash and a claim slip behind -- and Jane leaps to the conclusion that Irma herself is the bride.
July 5, 1948
(untitled)
July 12, 1948
(untitled)
July 19, 1948
(untitled)
July 26, 1948
(untitled)
August 2, 1948
(untitled)
August 9, 1948
(untitled)
August 16, 1948
(untitled)
August 23, 1948
(untitled)
August 30, 1948
(untitled)
On a sweltering New York afternoon, Irma talks the whole gang into a cooling-off trip out to Coney Island.
September 20, 1948
(untitled)
October 25, 1948
(untitled)
November 1, 1948
(untitled)
November 8, 1948
(untitled)
No sooner has Jane returned the piano than Irma signs up for lessons and sets her sights on a singing contest, with Joan Banks filling in as Jane.
Lonely on Christmas Eve, Irma plans a party that not one of her friends can attend -- the show's yearly holiday script.
1949
The girls pair off for an evening out with two escorts while a jealous Al schemes to wreck it.
April 4, 1949
(untitled)
April 18, 1949
(untitled)
May 16, 1949
(untitled)
May 23, 1949
(untitled)
May 30, 1949
(untitled)
June 13, 1949
(untitled)
June 20, 1949
(untitled)
June 27, 1949
(untitled)
August 29, 1949
(untitled)
September 5, 1949
(untitled)
September 12, 1949
(untitled)
September 19, 1949
(untitled)
September 26, 1949
(untitled)
October 3, 1949
(untitled)
October 10, 1949
(untitled)
October 17, 1949
(untitled)
October 24, 1949
(untitled)
October 31, 1949
(untitled)
November 7, 1949
(untitled)
November 14, 1949
(untitled)
November 21, 1949
(untitled)
November 28, 1949
(untitled)
December 5, 1949
(untitled)
December 12, 1949
(untitled)
December 19, 1949
(untitled)
December 26, 1949
(untitled)
1950
January 2, 1950
(untitled)
January 9, 1950
(untitled)
January 16, 1950
(untitled)
January 23, 1950
(untitled)
January 30, 1950
(untitled)
February 6, 1950
Monkey Business
February 13, 1950
(untitled)
February 20, 1950
(untitled)
February 27, 1950
(untitled)
March 6, 1950
(untitled)
March 13, 1950
(untitled)
March 20, 1950
(untitled)
March 27, 1950
(untitled)
April 3, 1950
(untitled)
April 10, 1950
(untitled)
April 17, 1950
(untitled)
April 24, 1950
(untitled)
May 1, 1950
(untitled)
May 8, 1950
(untitled)
May 15, 1950
(untitled)
May 22, 1950
(untitled)
Irma must raise fifty dollars fast to pay for a neighbor's car she wrecked while driving unlicensed, and Jane refuses the loan to teach her a lesson.
June 5, 1950
(untitled)
June 12, 1950
(untitled)
June 19, 1950
(untitled)
June 26, 1950
(untitled)
September 4, 1950
(untitled)
September 11, 1950
(untitled)
September 18, 1950
(untitled)
September 25, 1950
(untitled)
October 2, 1950
(untitled)
October 9, 1950
(untitled)
October 16, 1950
(untitled)
October 23, 1950
(untitled)
October 30, 1950
(untitled)
November 6, 1950
(untitled)
November 13, 1950
(untitled)
November 20, 1950
(untitled)
November 27, 1950
(untitled)
December 4, 1950
(untitled)
December 11, 1950
(untitled)
December 18, 1950
(untitled)
December 25, 1950
(untitled)
1951
January 1, 1951
(untitled)
January 8, 1951
(untitled)
January 15, 1951
(untitled)
January 22, 1951
(untitled)
January 29, 1951
(untitled)
February 5, 1951
(untitled)
February 12, 1951
(untitled)
February 19, 1951
(untitled)
February 26, 1951
(untitled)
March 5, 1951
(untitled)
March 12, 1951
(untitled)
March 19, 1951
(untitled)
March 26, 1951
(untitled)
April 9, 1951
(untitled)
April 16, 1951
(untitled)
April 23, 1951
(untitled)
April 30, 1951
(untitled)
May 7, 1951
(untitled)
May 14, 1951
(untitled)
May 21, 1951
(untitled)
May 28, 1951
(untitled)
June 4, 1951
(untitled)
June 11, 1951
(untitled)
June 18, 1951
(untitled)
June 25, 1951
(untitled)
October 14, 1951
(untitled)
October 21, 1951
(untitled)
October 28, 1951
(untitled)
November 4, 1951
(untitled)
November 11, 1951
(untitled)
November 18, 1951
(untitled)
November 25, 1951
(untitled)
December 2, 1951
(untitled)
December 9, 1951
(untitled)
December 16, 1951
(untitled)
December 23, 1951
Christmas Show
December 30, 1951
(untitled)
1952
Reading that Churchill sold his memoirs for a fortune, Irma writes her own life story and goes looking for a publisher.
Irma, den mother to the neighborhood cub scouts, toils over a talk on Benjamin Franklin -- while Professor Kropotkin, having told immigration he is married, scrambles to produce a wife.
When a night prowler makes off with Jane's new brooch, it is the ring Al gave Irma that proves to matter most.
A compatibility quiz persuades Irma to drop Al, and the two of them end up at rival lonely-hearts clubs -- a reworking of the 1948 story.
Thrilled to be asked for a column by a local shopper, Irma discovers too late that its 'wonderful pay' means writing for nothing.
Sick of stenography, Irma takes a stage job being sawed in half and leaves Jane to puzzle out her homemade brand of shorthand.
Weary of office work, Irma reasons that marrying Al would only mean typing under a new name, and lands a stage gig getting sawed in half.
March 2, 1952
(untitled)
March 9, 1952
(untitled)
March 16, 1952
(untitled)
March 23, 1952
(untitled)
March 30, 1952
(untitled)
April 6, 1952
(untitled)
April 13, 1952
(untitled)
April 20, 1952
(untitled)
April 27, 1952
(untitled)
May 4, 1952
(untitled)
May 11, 1952
(untitled)
May 18, 1952
(untitled)
May 25, 1952
(untitled)
June 1, 1952
(untitled)
June 8, 1952
(untitled)
June 15, 1952
(untitled)
October 7, 1952
(untitled)
October 14, 1952
(untitled)
October 21, 1952
(untitled)
October 28, 1952
(untitled)
November 4, 1952
(untitled)
November 11, 1952
(untitled)
November 25, 1952
(untitled)
December 2, 1952
(untitled)
December 9, 1952
(untitled)
December 16, 1952
(untitled)
December 23, 1952
(untitled)
December 30, 1952
(untitled)
1953
January 6, 1953
(untitled)
January 13, 1953
(untitled)
January 20, 1953
(untitled)
February 3, 1953
(untitled)
February 10, 1953
(untitled)
February 17, 1953
(untitled)
Al's newest scheme for easy money is a bottled 'Baby Face Youth Restorer.'
March 3, 1953
(untitled)
March 10, 1953
(untitled)
March 17, 1953
(untitled)
March 24, 1953
(untitled)
April 7, 1953
(untitled)
April 14, 1953
(untitled)
Irma resolves to become a better cook -- a resolution that endangers every stomach within reach.
Warned to improve her mind or lose Al, Irma recalls dropping a memory course once because she forgot the school's address.
Irma's supposedly brilliant brother arrives on a lecture tour that turns out to be a pitch for the snake oil he is selling.
Mistaking the secretarial club's visit for a hunt for overdue dues, Irma nearly resigns -- moments before learning she has won a Coronation trip to England.
Irma's boss surprises everyone by buying a racehorse named Laughing Boy.
Irma, Jane, and Al each become convinced they have seen a ghost haunting the building.
Irma spends the girls' carefully saved vacation fund on an air conditioner.
December 1, 1953
(untitled)
December 8, 1953
(untitled)
December 15, 1953
(untitled)
December 22, 1953
(untitled)
December 29, 1953
(untitled)
1954
January 12, 1954
(untitled)
February 2, 1954
(untitled)
February 9, 1954
(untitled)
February 16, 1954
(untitled)
February 23, 1954
(untitled)
March 2, 1954
(untitled)
March 9, 1954
(untitled)
March 16, 1954
(untitled)
March 30, 1954
(untitled)
April 6, 1954
(untitled)
April 13, 1954
(untitled)
April 20, 1954
(untitled)
May 4, 1954
(untitled)
May 11, 1954
(untitled)
May 18, 1954
(untitled)
May 25, 1954
(untitled)
June 1, 1954
(untitled)
June 8, 1954
(untitled)
June 15, 1954
(untitled)
June 22, 1954
(untitled)
Leaving a note in the hall for the milkman, Irma glimpses a sheeted figure -- and learns other tenants have seen the same ghost.
July 6, 1954
(untitled)
July 13, 1954
(untitled)
July 20, 1954
(untitled)
July 27, 1954
(untitled)
August 3, 1954
(untitled)
August 10, 1954
(untitled)
August 17, 1954
(untitled)
August 24, 1954
The Story
One of network radio's best-loved situation comedies, My Friend Irma ran on CBS from April 1947 to August 1954. Marie Wilson starred as Irma Peterson, a good-hearted, gloriously dim stenographer from Minnesota sharing a New York apartment with her sensible roommate Jane Stacy (Cathy Lewis), who opened each week by narrating the latest tangle her innocent friend had wandered into. Around them revolved Irma's Brooklyn-hustler boyfriend Al (John Brown), the eccentric violinist Professor Kropotkin (Hans Conried), landlady Mrs. O'Reilly, crusty boss Mr. Clyde, and Jane's unattainable millionaire boss, Richard Rhinelander III. Created by writer-director Cy Howard as a low-cost answer to My Sister Eileen, the show was an immediate hit -- a fixture of the CBS Monday-night comedy block alongside Lux Radio Theatre, and a Top Ten program for four straight seasons. Its success spilled into a franchise: two Paramount films (the first, in 1949, introduced Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to moviegoers), a CBS television series, a comic strip, and a comic book. Behind the laughter ran a long plagiarism suit that CBS eventually settled -- but on the air, Irma simply kept turning disaster into charm, one bewildered week at a time.
Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
Gallery
Art pending